


(slam) and welcome to the

by mother_hearted



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Anal Play, Backstory, Dating, Family Feels, Feelings, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Grinding, M/M, Tent Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 02:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11659623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mother_hearted/pseuds/mother_hearted
Summary: Amanda laughs. "Okay, hold up. I have to go intimidate your boyfriend in a public gathering to assert dominance.""That's my girl."





	(slam) and welcome to the

**Author's Note:**

> My dadsona's name and take on his relationship with mourning, grief, Amanda, and Craig.

When Alex died, it was like Jon's heart had broken into pieces and splintered into his body like shrapnel. Everything hurt. Sleeping alone. Eating. An empty cushion on the couch. Finding the novelty sweatshirt Alex bought for him one summer ( _World's Most Moderately Okay Kazoo Player_ ). He was laughing and then he was crying, almost as loud as his daughter when she woke up from her nap, screaming for his attention.

When Amanda is older he explains again what happened, that Dad's body is gone, and Dad's spirit is gone. But the love he had for her still exists in this world, and even if she forgets him (she will), Jon hopes she never forgets how much they love her.

Being a single Dad is tough. 

His Father is unhelpful and unresponsive to questions. They spend minutes on the phone like first time improv comedians who haven't realized they killed the scene when they said _no_ instead of _yes, and_. Like a bad war flashback, all his dad has to offer is, "Why don't you pick up a book?" Twelfth grade history. Eighth grade math. Fifth grade writing. Jon remembers calling the card catalogue, "Dad," out of an act of desperation to make his life into a sit-com and not a sad lifetime movie about lowered expectations and all too real generational parenting. 

Jon's not going to be like that.

He may have developed a cheese wiz and saltine problem, and an addiction to reality tv, but he'll never choose work over his daughter. 

No daughter of his is going to call a card catalogue Dad. Or whatever they have in the future. Underwater libraries? Library scuba goggles? Orwell sure missed the boat on that one.

Years pass by, with hand puppets and Lisa Frank sticker sheets, too many ripped and stained field trip permission slips before Amanda is in high school. The card catalogue is dead, much like Jon's dating life. And. Over all social life.

He'd shed a tear for the boys at the country club but he's never been a member, and can't afford to even fake an interest in golf that isn't mini-golf. 

It doesn't bother him. He has Amanda, his job, he has his couch and tv guide.

When Alex died it felt like that part of his life was over, he couldn't even take off his ring. What was the point? But after teaching Amanda to ride her first bike, and living in their house just the two of them, it felt all right to say he was single. And there were times on the porch, when he looked up at the stars and realized if Alex was watching him, he'd laugh at him. _Who are you saving yourself for? Cuz it's not me._ He was right. Well. Jon's imaginary perception of Alex was right. 

So he wasn't guilty. And he wasn't putting on the brakes in a misguided attempt at loyalty. You can't impress a dead man. Maybe a ghost. If you know him well enough. But not the dead.

Jon was single and Amanda had classes and after school clubs and miracle of miracles, Jon had free time outside his daughter and job. But every time he did, he thought, 

_I could go out. Or I could watch Sally Smokes: The Ghost who Triggered a Bitter Cigar Feud._

Maybe he wasn't interested anymore. Or maybe the allure of a NASA documentary about ghosts in astronauts lockers was too much to resist.

It's not until they move, that he really thinks about it.

 

"Hey, Popsicle! Where'd you put the photo albums again?" 

Jon walks into the living room to find Amanda searching through their bookcase.

"Missing Sir Horsington?"

Amanda sticks out her tongue, fist pumping when she finds the hardcover album. "Hello passing grade!"

"Huh, whaddaya doin'?" Jon kneels down beside her, carefully steadying himself with one hand on the bookcase. His superior Dad balance has taken a nose dive since he turned forty. Where has the time gone... That feeling only intensifies when he sees Amanda slipping out a photo from Christmas. They're both wearing antlers with ornaments hanging off them. He's surprised she's willingly acknowledging it.

"I'm surprised you're willingly acknowledging that," Jon says. 

"Hey, I was six and adorable. I'll own that." She flips through the album and slowly starts to lose her smile. "Pops..."

"What's up?"

"I'm doing a creative project for class. It's about our family."

"Sure, but you've got a lot of dirt on me, kid. Don't sell me out."

Amanda bites her lip before looking over at Jon. It should be all the warning he needs but it isn't. His heart slams into his rib cage.

"I want a picture of Dad. Of _you_ and Dad."

Oh. "Oh." Well, yeah. That makes sense. What is his face doing? He doesn't know. He feels so tired all of a sudden. His eyes fall on the picture of Alex in the album, alone with their broken beach umbrella and a shrug. Next to it, another picture of Amanda asleep on his stomach while he waves at the camera. Memories Amanda will never recall and memories that make Jon happy and sad all at once.

"Come with me, kiddo." He sounds happier than he feels. His steady hand brace proves successful and he's up and walking over to his bedroom. Amanda follows quietly, letting out a surprised sound when he grabs a box from his closet. And promptly snorts when she reads the label on the box. "Who went to clown college?"

"Your uncle, Finn. Ring toss accident. We don't talk about it." 

Amanda laughs in disbelief and that makes opening up the box easier. Jon still braces himself, it's been... "A long time since I looked in here."

Amanda goes quiet, looking at Jon before reaching her hand inside. She picks up his wedding ring. Jon just smiles. Waits.

"This looks _cheap_."

Jon laughs. "Hey! We were buying a house for future you! We didn't have a lot of extra money. That's the fanciest ring twenty bucks will buy ya." 

"Wow."

"After we got married in the Justice of Peace's living room, we bought donuts at the corner store. Walked all over town buzzed on sugar. It was the best 11am I'd ever had on a Saturday."

"This explains the crazed look in your eye."

"You mean glazed?"

"Daaaad." Amanda shuffles through the photos, unable to keep smiling more than once. It shows off the gap in her teeth and Jon's looking at her fondly, ignoring the photos in her hands. At least, until she shoves one in his face.

"Who's this?"

"That's Bridge." Jon takes the photo. He sighs. "She was your surrogate. Alex's friend. We lost touch with her when she moved back home to take care of her dad..."

"Was she around after I was born?"

"Oh, yeah. But, the most she ever wanted to be was a... big sister or a cool aunt? She had no interest in parenting or being a Mom. Alex was shocked when she offered but... she knew how much we wanted you. And she really felt like she could do it."

It's too much. The sappy Dad feels are here.

"Incoming Dad hug, bring it in." Jon says and Amanda groans playfully, leaning over to hug him. Jon doesn't bother stopping the sap. "I wish I could thank her every day for the rest of my life. I love you, kiddo."

"Aw, dad... I love you, too." When she pulls back, she's quick to rub at her eyes. Her freckled cheeks are wet and Jon just grins. He's so glad she has Alex's freckles. 

"So... Are the pics off limits?"

"Nah. They belong to you, too." Jon pushes the box over to her. "Promise me you'll make copies if you wanna keep any?"

"Totally."

They finger gun out of the moment at each other and Jon watches her run off with the box. 

_I miss him._

_It's all gonna be okay._

_...he was right, you know._

He scrubs at his face and grabs a sweatshirt.

Opening the front door, he calls out to Amanda, "Be back in 20, Manda!"

"Where are you going?"

"To exorcise my demons!"

"What?"

"I'm jogging around the neighborhood!"

"Don't get dadnapped!"

"Okay!"

He's taken to running every morning but tonight he's too keyed up, too wired to even think about sleeping and getting swept up in memories. He needs a hard slap in the face from the cold night air to fall into a peaceful oblivion. He's going to get it.

 

He gets it.

 

 _My Dad senses are tingling,_ Jon thinks and immediately shoves a tub of yogurt in the fridge lest he cause a dairy catastrophe. 

_Why did I buy so much food, we're both going away this weekend._ Jon promptly throws all the meat in the freezer. He's folding up a brown shopping bag when Amanda comes bounding in, making grabby hands at the freezer handle.

"Let me in, pops! It's ice cream sandwich time."

"At least pretend you care about dinner, honey."

"Trust me, pops. After the conversation we're gonna have, I'll need it."

What. "What." What's happening? Amanda doesn't look upset, and after their talk about her friends, she's been a lot less stressed. What's he missing?

Amanda crosses her arms. "Follow me to the couch."

Jon does so while immediately looking around for signs of foul play. No cameras. No laser beams. What could it mean?

"Jonathan Watanabe!" Amanda declares, pointing at the couch and it's worse than he feared.

"My full name! What's going on?"

Jon sits fearful of his near future. Amanda stands at the ready but finally sits down next to Jon with a hesitant look on her face.

"Amanda," Jon says, finally serious. "What's all this about?"

"I'm worried about you, Dad."

"Worried about me, why?"

He doesn't understand.

"I know we talked about me going off to college and how it's gonna be a change for both of us." She shrugs, uncomfortable but pushing on with it. "I'm your kid... and we don't talk about." She cuts herself off. "I feel _super_ weird about this, but when I think I'm talking to a friend, uh, a much older more alive friend than me --

"Ouch, Manda."

"-- it's not _as_ bad." She gives a decisive nod. "Dad, I think you need to find somebody."

Silence. Jon suspects he looks as uncomfortable as he feels. Which is an awful lot.

"You... want me to start dating again?"

"For _you_ , not for me! C'mon Dad. We live in a neighborhood with an oddly high ratio of single Dads. Who you made friends with! Like, all of them. You having a boyfriend isn't weird to me. If you both wore matching outfits and insisted on going to the park with me in said matching outfits, _that_ would be _weird_."

"This is a very upsetting conversation."

" _Why?_ " Amanda asks, not bothering to hide her exasperation. 

"It's going to get real, honey. Can you handle that?"

"I will end the conversation the moment it gets too real."

"Okay." Jon swallows and thinks she's grown up way too fast. "I haven't had feelings for anyone since your Dad died, Manda. But that changed three months ago. And I'm not handling it."

"Handling it... well?"

"No. At all. I am not touching it with a proverbial ten foot pole because it has been fifteen years and I'm over forty and I'm not going to go any further into this because you are my daughter and it is officially Too Real in this room."

_Nailed it._

Jon stands up and stretches his arms behind his head. Breathe, Jon. Just breathe. Remember, your body loves oxygen. 

Amanda gets up looking disappointed. Jon doesn't know what to say. It gets worse when Amanda suddenly hugs him, squeezing his sides hard.

"Please don't sabotage yourself, Dad."

And then she's gone back to her room. Dinner is normal after that, somehow. They do some hoops while toddlers run an attempted con on a cooking panel in the background, the tv volume beaten down by their basketball noises.

Jon still can't remember the lyrics to Space Jam.

When he goes to bed that night he lets himself think, for the first time in a long time, 

_I'm so tired._

 

"...new memories with you."

Jon is not freaking out. Jon is absolutely, positively, not freaking out. He may have a heart attack and die right here, in a tent next to his Bro, but he is not freaking out. He would like that made clear in his obituary. 

...that would be a great reality tv show.

_Not now, Jon._

"Craig." His voice is thick when he finally speaks up, even as his hands follow the muscle corded around Craig's arms. He wants to take care of Craig so badly, he can't help himself, but now that the stunned moment of wonder is over, he knows he looks uncomfortable. Craig sees it too, mouth curling down anxiously. 

"Are you okay?"

He starts to loosen his hold and Jon almost lets him before his once dead selfish desires kick in. He needs the intimacy, the desire so strong it forces his discomfort out of the way.

"Hold me." He says. Quiet, too quiet. But Craig hears him, curls him even closer so their chests breathe into one another, their legs tangle. He's so warm. So safe. _Don't let go_.

"Bro, what're you thinking?"

Jon hates that even hiding in the dark like this, he doesn't want to be honest. Craig was honest, at the lake, by the fire, even now. Jon owes him so much. 

"I'm freaking out, Bro."

_Dammit._

Craig kisses his forehead and that's it, Jon is crying, silent leaky tears all over his face and _oh my god_ , maybe he won't notice.

Craig notices. Jon is not a tear ninja and he doesn't fight the knuckles gently wiping under his eyes. He sees Craig's scar on his lip tug when he smiles. There's still a hint of anxiety in his expression but he must already know Jon's problem isn't with Craig but himself. 

"We've been flirting ever since we ran into each other, huh, Bro."

"Yeah."

It's been driving Jon crazy. The warm history of a old friend combined with the possibility of moving forward together, as the men they've grown into, who still fit together like nothing else. That fact alone made everything so real and terrifying. Craig had been a great friend, but when it came to his own life, he was indecisive, aimless, and while nothing had turned Jon off, nothing had compelled him to start something. He'd always been attracted to Craig, when his stomach was soft and hid the muscle that let Craig heave him over his head, unleashing the butterflies in Jon's gut.

Craig is still crazy hot but now he's so driven, determined, relentlessly working towards his better self, and it makes Jon dizzy with desire, and flush with shame at the total standstill his life has become. 

"I'm glad it wasn't just me." Craig kisses him again, something slow and toe curling good, and Jon can't keep from squeezing the thick thigh between his legs. Craig lets out a soft noise only to pull back far enough to look Jon in the eye again. "I don't want this to be a casual thing, Bro. I want you to be apart of my life and my girl's lives."

"Dude, I can only do serious," Jon laughs helplessly. Something small and almost hurt. "I haven't been with anyone since Alex."

"No one?" Criag looks surprised. Almost sad. 

It's messing Jon up.

"I was so young when it happened... I thought, if I already found the best, why bother?" Craig's large palms rub up and down his back, slow, soothing. "But that was because I didn't know what I wanted, and when I met Alex, he was who I needed. All the things wrong with me, all my problems... He couldn't fix them but he made me feel okay, that it was okay to be me. He helped me find my confidence.

"...I kept thinking I wasn't interested as the years went by but the truth was my needs changed. But I wasn't ready."

He's silent until Craig prompts him, kissing his temple, "Ready for what?"

"Being in love again." 

"You in love with me, Bro?" 

It's the absurdity of the question, the goofy happiness smile on Craig's face, because yeah, they are deep in this river of feelings. Jon's just brought them full circle. As scared as he is, he's not taking it back. 

"Craig. Bro. You had me at athleisure wear."

They're both giggling into each others mouth then, kissing messy, cracking each other up all over again. Jon cups the back of Craig's neck and they're kissing for real, lips warm, rubbing slick against each other from saliva. When Craig curls his tongue in Jon's mouth Jon's toes curl too. It feels amazing.

"The way you care about me, it really does it for me, Jon." Craig's voice is low, a hot whisper in Jon's ear when he pulls back. "You do help me feel like I deserve it. Let me take care of you, too."

_Oh._

Jon's heartbeat spikes. Which he finds impressive because it feels like all the blood has rushed to his dick, thick and hard, pressed against Craig's thigh. He can't help shifting his hips, a shaky exhale giving him away.

"This what you want?" Craig's voice is warm as it is teasing. Jon can't pretend to be coy. 

"Yeah." Give it to me.

Craig pushes against Jon, cradles his hip with one palm and Jon's hips are rolling, working himself against his thigh, it feels too good too fast.

"Don't laugh," he says, way too vulnerable and unable to hide it. He's already so close.

"I won't." Craig promises, stealing a wet kiss from Jon before kissing his way down, sucking on the soft skin below his jaw. "You look so sexy." His words are hot on Jon's neck. Jon's eyes nearly roll back into his head when he comes, Craig holding him tight and not letting him squirm anywhere but closer into him.

"Hoooooly wow..."

They kiss as Jon cools down, his own hip brushing Craig's hard cock. "What do you need?" he asks, waiting breathless but eager.

Craig worries his bottom lip in his teeth when he closes his eyes. Thinks. "Ohh... Anything, Bro. I've wanted you to touch me since the waterfall."

Oh, _ohhhhh_.

"I really wanna get at that ass." 

Craig laughs. 

"Do it."

They shift around, until Jon has his hands full, his thigh right where Craig wants it. Craig groans when Jon rubs over his hole, the soft, sweaty skin of his taint, spreads his cheeks and rubs him all over. His dick pushes into Jon's leg impatiently. Already worked up from Jon's hands, he rolls his hips fast only to try and slow down. Catching his breath, he gets caught up in the pleasure all over again. Jon loves watching him lose control, how Craig's underwear stretches over the backs of his hands. 

They're wrapped tight around each other and Jon wishes he had some lube, wants to do more than tease that ring of muscle with his finger, wants to rub Craig deep inside, make his dick wet and flush from having his ass played with. 

"I can't believe we both wanted this but didn't bring any lube."

Craig laughs, more air than sound. His eyes crinkle in the corners, so cute Jon can't not kiss him. Craig outright moans in his mouth, humping his leg faster and then Craig is _gone_ , letting himself be kissed when he's too out of it to reciprocate.

That's what Jon wanted.

"Next time," he says, lips close to Craig's ear. "I'll finger you until you can't do anything but lie there, loved and spoiled."

Jon doesn't expect the whine in Craig's throat, how he grits his teeth and shakes, shuddering hard until he comes, a wet patch spreading through his underwear. 

Post orgasm Craig's whole face has gone slack, panting. He looks relaxed and gorgeous. Sweaty. Perfect. Jon's in deep.

He smiles and wipes the sweat off Craig's forehead.

They kiss again, gentle like the first.

The whole tent smells like sex but they don't mind. It can be aired out in the morning. Instead they strip out of their clothes, sleep shirts and underwear wet from sweat and come, they ball them up to be thrown in the laundry tomorrow night. 

By the time they settle back on the sleeping bag, Jon's toes brush Craig's calf while Craig's arm wraps around his waist. 

They smile giddy like teenagers. 

"Bro..."

Craig kisses him.

Jon is overcome with a strange but accurate thought.

"Craig."

"Hm?"

"The butt tree was a _sign_."

How they go from laughing to kissing Jon isn't sure but at some point they stop making out to sleep. 

At some point. 

 

When Amanda is home and her backyard party is in full swing, Jon is still trying to get over the framed photo when she plants her hands on her hips and clears her throat.

"Looks like someone is waiting to talk to you."

Craig waves at them both with a grin from the bench.

Jon is hopeless when he waves back. 

"Manda, panda."

"Yes, Father figure."

"You already know, don't you."

"Popsicle, you started jogging every morning. Of course, I knew."

"I'm so glad you're smarter than me."

Amanda laughs. "Okay, hold up. I have to go intimidate your boyfriend in a public gathering to assert dominance."

"That's my girl."

**Author's Note:**

> Also: i live for vers!Craig who likes butt stuff.
> 
> Thank you and Good night.


End file.
